One View of History: In Stone Age cultures, each man
in the tribe must have possessed roughly the same knowledge as every other
man in the tribe, and every woman must have known approximately what every
other woman knew. Since everything had to be passed on as oral tradition,
the sum total of human knowledge may not have been much greater than that
of the typical man plus that of the typical woman. This would all have changed around
3,500 B. C. with the invention of writing, the rise of city-states, and
the agricultural surpluses that empowered specialization. It was at this
time that the emergence of a priesthood, hereditary classes, and a standing
army occurred. It also became easier and more profitable to steal one's
neighbors' food than to cultivate one's own provender. This became institutionalized
in the form of conquest, spoils of war, slavery, and usorious taxes. From
~3,500 B. C. until the 19th century, history becomes a dreary recitation
of conquerors and conquests, of atrocities and depredations. Life became
very dangerous for conqueror and conquered alike. The 19th century was still an
age of Western imperialism and of the oppression of non-Western populations.
But a new idea was germinating in the shade of the colonial canopies: the
idea that nations could generate their own wealth. A technological revolution
was underway that was replacing wind, waterfall, and animal power with
steam, as a rising tide of invention washed over the Western world. The first half of the 20th century
saw colonialism plateau and then dissolve. The steam engine was supplanted
by the internal combustion engine, and new technologies permitted the average
Western citizen to live better, in many ways, than royalty had lived in
the distant past. The second half of the 20th century
witnessed the rising standards-of-living of the no-longer-possessed, third-world
nations and the beginnings of a global village. But to link this back to the
original Stone Age theme, our societies are now highly-specialized, with
the sum total of unique and commonly-relevant human knowledge now... what?
100,000 times? 1,000,000 times? what any one individual knows? (How many
people would have to be pulled together to actualy reconstruct the world's
industrial capability?) And this (I think) has a bearing upon--you guessed
it!--the ultra-bright. As children, we're generally embedded in the same
learning environment. In such an environment, with the ultra-bright learning
many times faster than the average bear, it's probably easy to develop
a contempt for other kids' minds. But once we become adults, a specialization
of knowledge occurs. Some people become automobile mechanics specializing
in automotive electrical systems, others may become physicians specializing
in, for example, cardiology, and still others may become Walmart clerks,
telephone linemen, or carpenters. Even someone who can learn very rapidly
can't begin to learn it all, and is dependent upon experts for expert advice
and guidance. It would seem as though things
change in adulthood. We are all interdependent, and like Sandburg's nail,
we all help hold the skyscraper together. (When the power goes off on an
icy, rainy night, I become aware of my indebtedness to the utility workers
who are out there in the freezing rain all night and all day trying to
get our power back on.)

THE THINKER

Does the little goldfishSwimming in his bowlPonder long and deeplyHis immortal soul?

Tra, la, tra, la,We can never tellIf the little goldfishHas a special Hell.